Cleaning service coming tomorrow!

I have a cleaning service come once every other week. I run around a few hours before they come, like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get all the trash and dirty clothes and toys off the floor and counters. It takes me at least an hour with no breaks. (with three young kids, breaks are a rule, rather than exception) Closer to 3 hours, and that is still leaving the house horribly messy. Toyroom is not picked up, bathrooms are left as is, kids' rooms are as is, unless I inspired fire in them and they clean up. floors are not swept and have a few days worth of spoiled food on them. table has hardened food on it. do you know how impossible cocoa wheats is to get off a surface once dried? fruity pepples is another difficult one. anyway... for my 2900 sq ft house, they only charge $60. I think it is a awesome deal and totally love these ladies that come and clean for me. I feel horrible that I leave the house in such a condition that I would not let my bestest of friend enter in and yet i have them clean though. And that is after 3 hours of cleaning! You would think I would be able to keep it clean once they come. I don't know why I can't. Once one thing is out of place it throws me back into squalor. Why lift a finger and do something when it will just get undone in a matter of minutes anyway? ugh. i hate this attitude. How do I go about changin it?

About 1-2 months a year I find a book or program I like enough to stick with for a few weeks. During this time my house is clean enough for company and I work on the hidden areas where junk is piled and overflowing. But I am so stuck in my ways during these weeks that I can not allow any interuption to my routine or I fall into the downward spiral. Summer is the hardest because we are going camping or on vacation virtually every weekend. If I keep the routine up, even the smallest of things like packing will throw it all off and the dishes start to pile up and the clothes become mountains. then it all becomes so overwhelming i don't know where to start. so i don't. i wait until rush hour before the cleaning crew arrives. and THEN i find the energy to pick up.

Yikes... I turned this into a book. Sorry... thanks for letting me vent...

Missy
Sereah 4.5 years
Natalie 3 years
Hayden 18 months
Married to Barry for 5 years